Sales Blog with Sales Tips

Ever read “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, MD? Well, the cheese has been moved when it comes to cold calling.

The biggest challenges faced by sales professionals today are getting past voice mail and getting calls returned, according to a survey by Teleconcepts Consulting.

Things Aren’t Going To Improve
These issues have always represented a roadblock when prospecting. I’m afraid the phone is going to continue its decline in its potency as a stand-alone prospecting tool.

There are numerous current studies on the effectiveness of prospecting by phone. Most of them indicate a one-percent close rate. For every 100 calls made, only one of the contacts turns into a customer. Mileage may vary depending on industry, but it will be poor.

Negative ROI (Return On Investment)
I was watching a video by Jeffrey Gitomer recently and he made an outstanding observation about the one-percent close ratio when cold calling by phone and using no additional resources or tools.

It has a negative ROI.

The substantial investment in time calling the other 99 prospects – who don’t buy from us – causes us to lose ground because we could be using that time doing something productive.

Beyond The Phone
There are resources available to us today that allow us to: 1) be better prepared before attempting to contact a prospect, and 2) “pull” prospects to us.

1) Be Prepared
Many salespeople call prospects with little knowledge about the company or person they’re calling. In 2010 this is completely unacceptable to prospective customers. They expect us to know something about their company or they will simply not engage us.

Prospects don’t want to hear about our company; they want to know that we are knowledgeable about them. Knowing something about their company elevates their perception of us.

It’s simple and fast to reference Jigsaw, NetProspex, LinkedIn, Ryze, Plaxo, Xing, etc. on the web.

2) Pull-Prospecting
Instead of beating the phone to death (which we know doesn’t work so well anymore), why not have prospects come to us? Your competitors are doing this. It’s time for you to start too.

Your primary objective in the activities below is to become a noted authority in your industry. Someone that people go to when they have a need. To become referable.

• Beginners in pull-prospecting will join LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to establish a presence. They will join groups and pages aligned with their industry on LinkedIn and Facebook and participate in discussions.
• Intermediates in pull-prospecting can write short articles specific to their industry and distribute them to prospects and customers. They can also guest post on blogs relevant to their industry.
• Advanced pull-prospectors will start a blog. See blogger.com.

The New Realities
Many of us grew up using The Yellow Pages and a phone to prospect. It’s all we had.

We now have many more resources available, thanks to the Internet. Because of the plethora of information on the web, we can know more about prospects before we initiate contact. We have to know more. It’s a new rule of engagement.

The Internet also gives us an opportunity to gain credibility in our field and become referable – to pull prospects to us.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer
—
By Scott R. Sheaffer,
“Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—
—
—
—
—

I read a number of other sales tips blogs – and their authors read this one as well. I never editorialize about any of their posts, but today is different.

I read a sales tips post recently from a fairly well known sales blog that made me realize many in the sales profession continue to be frozen in time. Even sales writers and trainers.

Change is difficult for everyone, but sales professionals, sales management, sales trainers and sales writers need to promote the realities of selling in 2010.

Why I’m On My Soapbox
The author of that sales tips post included a list of recommended reading for sales professionals. The suggested materials are written by well-respected authors. The problem is that these resources were written in the 70’s and 80’s.

Extremely relevant 20 to 30 years ago. But not today.

Caveat Emptor
Think carefully before consuming and digesting any sales training materials produced before 2008. Many game changers in the sales profession were below the radar prior to that date:

1. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. These social media tools are fundamentally changing how we find and communicate with prospects and customers. Pure “smile and dial” calling from massive lead lists is dead.

2. Ecommerce. Your employer’s ecommerce website has affected how you sell. Your prospects and customers demand the ability to find information about your products and buy them over the web if they wish. As a result, the dance between direct sales and ecommerce has to be resolved in every company. Who controls the customer? How do we pay salespeople on ecommerce sales?

3. CRM (Customer Relationship Management). I’m not a big proponent of these tools primarily because of poor design and the implementations are even worse. However, these tools are getting better and companies are becoming more proficient at using them. The concept is too good to go away. It is quickly becoming a part of all medium to large sales organizations.

A Challenge
It’s obvious our profession has changed substantially in the last two to three years. As human beings, we are hard-wired to resist change. We want to fall back on what we know and are comfortable with.

But it always costs us money when we are mentally lazy as sales professionals.

My challenge to you is to discard the training manuals, books, CD’s and cassettes (I know you have some) that predate 2008. Get out of your comfort zone and immerse yourself (and your sales team) in new materials that represent the selling realities of 2010.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer
—
By Scott R. Sheaffer,
“Comatose Management”
—
Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
—
Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
—
—
—

Of the major social media players, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, there is little doubt that LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is the best tool for researching companies and people.

Compared to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are toys in the B2B world.

Unfortunately, many sales professionals aren’t using this tool.

The Lowdown On LinkedIn
LinkedIn can look a little intimidating at first, but it’s logically laid out and reasonably straightforward. The LinkedIn folks have done their homework in order to keep spam, advertisements and fake network contacts (aka “fauxlowers” in Twitter speak) to a minimum.

LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and is the oldest of the big three (i.e. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). At 67 million users, it is the smallest of the big three, although it is the largest B2B networking site.

Ironically, its age and relatively small number of users is why it dominates in the B2B arena. This site focuses on serious B2B networking, which takes time. And LinkedIn is not looking for folks who are trying to simply build large social networks.

How To Use LinkedIn In A B2B Sales World

1. Join LinkedIn.
The services I’m talking about in this sales tips post are free.

2. Search for and research a company.
LinkedIn provides a plethora of information on companies. A company’s profile contains some or all of the following: company overview, locations, subsidiary companies, divisions, key statistics, new hires, recent departures (and where they’re currently employed), job promotions and changes, competitors, list of common job titles (with the ability to list those employees), news, etc.

This information is normally much more current than what’s available from lead list providers that charge you for their outdated information.

3. Search for and research a person.
In order to network effectively on LinkedIn, you must first build your own network. By doing so, you’ll be able to leverage your contacts’ networks. There are many tools to help you do this on LinkedIn.

Using the search box will enable you to search for people inside and outside your network.

LinkedIn can provide a virtual resume – and more – of the individual you are researching. A person’s profile can contain the following information: detailed job history, education, network of associates, group memberships, how you’re connected to this person, recommendations from others, interests, etc.

Again, this information is provided at no charge and is of a higher quality than what you’ve been paying for.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
Not all companies and business professionals are users of LinkedIn. Don’t expect to get a “hit” on every search. But the number is substantial and continues to grow. In practice, you’ll find it’s a “who’s who” of people and companies in the business community.

LinkedIn is the dark horse of social media. Since prospecting is a game of information and relationships, this tool is custom made for sales professionals.

©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Find a New Sales Job